Alaska Dispatch News Explains Relocation Home Sales

Jeannette Lee Falsey reports for the Dispatch on business and real estate topics. She published a front-page story Monday December 5 on relocation home sales.

Bethany is quoted on the market impact of Anchorage’s recent increase in sales of homes left behind by departing employees. “Shell homes” made the largest impact on the market, she said, because the company terminated its Arctic drilling program and shut down operations in Alaska.

The article is a coherent explanation of the mechanics of how employers provide home sale benefits to their employees. Employers subsidize and streamline the home sale process for key employees who need to be nimble to go anywhere in the world their assignments can take them. Destination services such as purchase of a home and its financing are part of the employer-provided package.

The solution for the employer is to outsource most of the tasks to a third-party relocation company. As the Falsey piece explains, these specialized organizations act as coordinators, providing the employer with a carefully vetted network of moving companies, real estate brokers, home inspectors, mortgage originators and all the other players who support an employee move.

About a third of the real estate projects that Bethany and Niel undertake fall in this category. The rest of the work involves lender-owned properties, and residential and commercial marketing and purchases by private clients we have known for as many as 40 years.